John Wright (cricketer, born 1954)

John Geoffrey Wright MBE (born 5 July 1954) is a former international cricketer representing – and captaining – New Zealand. He made his international debut in 1978 against England.

For other cricketers, see John Wright (disambiguation).
John Wright
MBE
Wright in 1990
Personal information
Full nameJohn Geoffrey Wright
Born (1954-07-05) 5 July 1954
Darfield, New Zealand
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingRight arm medium
RoleBatsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 141)10 February 1978 v England
Last Test16 March 1993 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 28)15 July 1978 v England
Last ODI12 December 1992 v Sri Lanka
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1975/76–1983/84Northern Districts
1977–1988Derbyshire
1984/85–1988/89Canterbury
1989/90–1992/93Auckland
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 82 149 366 349
Runs scored 5,334 3,891 25,073 10,240
Batting average 37.82 26.46 42.35 30.84
100s/50s 12/23 1/24 59/126 6/68
Top score 185 101 192 108
Balls bowled 30 24 370 42
Wickets 0 0 2 1
Bowling average – – 169.50 18.00
5 wickets in innings – – 0 0
10 wickets in match – – 0 0
Best bowling – – 1/4 1/8
Catches/stumpings 38/– 51/– 192/– 108/–
Source: Cricinfo, 4 November 2016

During his career, he scored more than 5,000 Test runs (the first New Zealand Test player to do so)[1] at an average of 37.82 runs per dismissal with 12 Test centuries, 10 of them in New Zealand. He also played for Derbyshire in England. In first-class cricket he scored over 25,000 runs, having scored over 50 first-class centuries. He scored over 10,000 runs in List A limited-overs cricket.

Following his retirement in 1993, he coached the Indian national cricket team from 2000 to 2005 (thus became India's first foreign coach) and New Zealand from 2010 to 2012.

International career

He typically opened for New Zealand, and was noted as a tenacious, rather than spectacular, batsman. His team nickname was "shake"; reputedly a reflection on his packing technique. Together with Bruce Edgar of Wellington, he formed what was arguably New Zealand's most successful and reliable opening partnership. During a match against Australia in 1980, he became the second player in history to score an eight off one ball in a Test, running four and collecting four overthrows.[2] Toward the end of his career he used an unorthodox batting stance; whereas most batsman face the bowler with the bat in line with their legs, and perpendicular to the ground, Wright would stand with his bat raised in parallel to it.

In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Wright was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to cricket.[3]

Coaching career

After retiring, Wright worked in sales for around two years – self-confessedly without great success. After taking up coaching for Kent County Cricket Club, Wright enjoyed a successful coaching career with India, from 2000 to 2005, during which time the team improved immensely, winning a home test series 2–1 against Australia (which included the historic Kolkata test which India won coming back from a follow-on with Indian batsman VVS Laxman making 281*), drawing a test series against Australia in Australia 1–1 in a four-match test series in 2003–04 (Steve Waugh's farewell test series), winning a series against arch-rivals, Pakistan, and reaching the final of the 2003 Cricket World Cup held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The following months saw the team lose form, and series to Australia and Pakistan. In May 2005, former Australian skipper, Greg Chappell took over from Wright.

Wright was also appointed as coach of the World XI team that played Australia in the ICC Super Series 2005.

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Wright's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

On 20 December 2010, Wright was named as NZ Cricket Coach, replacing Mark Greatbatch. He resigned that role in 2012, following New Zealand's tour of the West Indies.[4]

In January 2013 Wright was appointed head coach of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League competition. The Mumbai Indians won that edition of the IPL.[5]

He was appointed as talent scout for Mumbai Indians

Publications

In 1990, together with New Zealand writer Paul Thomas, Wright wrote an entertaining autobiography, Christmas in Rarotonga.[6] In 2006, Wright co-authored the book John Wright's Indian Summers describing his experiences as coach of the Indian cricket team, along with Indian journalist Sharda Ugra and Paul Thomas.[7]

References
  1. "Bodyline's quiet beginning". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  2. Lynch, Steven (25 November 2008). "Eight off one ball, and six ducks all in a row". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  3. "No. 51367". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 11 June 1988. p. 34.
  4. Woodcock, Fred (1 May 2012). "John Wright to step down as Black Caps coach". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  5. "John Wright to coach in IPL". 3 News NZ. 28 January 2013. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013.
  6. Haigh, Gideon (20 December 2003). "Cricket, the Wright way". The Age. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  7. Srinivas, Alam (11 September 2006). "Mr Wright, Never in From The Cold". Outlook India. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Jeff Crowe		 New Zealand national cricket captain
1987/8–1990		 Succeeded by
Martin Crowe
Preceded by
Anshuman Gaekwad		 Indian National Cricket Coach
November 2000 – April 2005		 Succeeded by
Greg Chappell
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